starving to death

Meaning

A dramatic, hyperbolic expression used to say that you are extremely hungry. It is not meant literally; rather, it is a playful exaggeration used in casual conversations to emphasize that it is past your lunchtime or you need food immediately. The tone is informal and often slightly dramatic.

Examples

• Is dinner ready yet? I'm absolutely starving to death!

  Is dinner ready yet? I'm absolutely starving to death!

• We haven't eaten since breakfast, and we are starving to death.

  We haven't eaten since breakfast, and we are starving to death.

• If we don't find a restaurant soon, I'm going to be starving to death.

  If we don't find a restaurant soon, I'm going to be starving to death.

• He came home from soccer practice saying he was starving to death.

  He came home from soccer practice saying he was starving to death.

• Stop complaining that you're starving to death; we ate just two hours ago!

  Stop complaining that you're starving to death; we ate just two hours ago!

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I am hungry to death.

  ✓ I am starving to death.

  The idiomatic expression specifically uses 'starving' (extreme hunger) rather than 'hungry'.

• ✗ She was starving to death because of the famine.

  ✓ She was starving because of the famine.

  Avoid using 'starving to death' in serious, literal contexts of actual starvation or poverty, as it is a casual hyperbole and can sound insensitive.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Let's order some food right now; I am absolutely ___!

  💡 Extremely hungry (hyperbolic expression).

  Show answer

  starving to death

• After the long hike, everyone was ___.

  💡 Exaggerating how hungry they were.

  Show answer

  starving to death